JEDDAH: A terror suspect allegedly belonging to a Qatar cell that targeted American installations in the Gulf country ratified his confessions before a criminal court on Saturday.Another two suspects, Defendant Nos. 4 and 10, however, told the Riyadh court that they wanted to change the lawyer appointed to defend their cases.
The three were allegedly part of a 41-member cell, including 38 Saudis, a Yemeni, an Afghan and a Qatari, that plotted to carry out attacks on US forces in Qatar. The cell members are also accused of funding terrorist operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and mobilizing young Saudis to join terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.
The hearing was attended by representatives of the Human Rights Commission. The Justice Ministry prevented journalists from entering the courtroom on the request of the defendants.
Defendant No. 3, the suspect who ratified his confessions, is accused of issuing religious edicts against Saudi rulers and leaving the Kingdom to join battles in Iraq, disobeying the Saudi leadership. He was allegedly carrying a machine gun with live ammunition and had tried to obtain four guns to carry out chaos and confusion in the country.
Defendant No. 4 is accused of joining the terrorist cell established by Defendant No. 1, funding terrorist operations and helping militants to sneak into Iraq. Defendant No. 10 allegedly helped Defendant No. 1 leave the Kingdom for Kuwait with someone else's passport.
Meanwhile, the court heard the testimony of a Saudi academic accused of supporting Al-Qaeda. The hearing was attended by the defendant's brother and eight sons. The academic rejected the confessions made by some of the witnesses, saying he did not know them. The court asked the prosecutor to present his evidence in the next session. The academic is accused of inciting militants to attack Abqaiq refinery.
In a related development, Friday passed without incident although some Saudis had called for holding a protest march to force authorities to release terror suspects in the Kingdom's jails.
They had made the call using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The proponents of the campaign faced stiff opposition from groups of Saudis who launched another campaign against possible anti-government protests. It was quite clear that those who called for demonstration against the Saudi leadership used fake Saudi names and were mobilizing public support from foreign countries.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Suwailem, imam and khateeb of Prince Khaled bin Saud Mosque and member of the committee to rehabilitate militants, has denied reports carried by Facebook and Twitter that he had broke into the women's prayer hall at the mosque and asked women making sit-in protests after the Friday prayer to leave the place and get into the vehicles of police and the Haia.
On his Twitter account, Al-Suwailem said he had never visited the alleged demonstration or sit-in protest location. "I had never come out of my house after Friday prayer," the imam said and expressed his opposition to such protests, saying they are good for nothing. He also commended the Saudi government's services for Islam and Muslims and spreading the message of the Holy Qur'an.